Wagner’s comic opera, based on Shakespeare’s comedy Measure for Measure, is performed in Spain for the first time in a new production by Danish director Kasper Holten for the Teatro Real in Madrid and the Royal Opera House. The musical score, with clear influences from Italian and French music as well as Carl Maria von Weber, invites the listener to consider a youthful genius still searching for his own voice, while already displaying traces of originality. Wagner’s adaptation of the story compiles the rebellious concerns of a revolutionary Germany, which proclaims sensual love and attacks the fanatical repression of sexuality by a puritan and hypocritical authority.
Ivor Bolton directs a brilliant cast, including English baritone Chris Maltman (winner of the Lieder Prize in the Cardiff Singer of the World competition), Turkish-Viennese tenor Ilker Arcayürek (BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist) and one of the most important Wagner sopranos, Manuela Uhl, from Germany.
The Resident Choir and Orchestra of the Teatro Real
Musical Direction: Ivor Bolton
Stage Direction: Kasper Holten
Friedrich: Christopher Maltman
Luzio: Peter Lodahl
Claudio: Ilker Arcayürek
Isabella: Manuela Uhl
Brighella: Ante Jerkunica
A co-production by EuroArts, Sintonía Media, the Teatro Real of Madrid and TVE
Recorded on March 3rd and 5th, 2016 in the Teatro Real of Madrid
Approximate duration: 160′
HD with stereo sound and 5.1
